Homebrew Clash of Gods - TCG

[iSubaru]

Woah woah woah, I go off for an hour or two and there is that much to explain already? XD
Ok slowly one by one...

VampireLordAlucard:
1) New original game with LITTLE similarities to M:tG and DM, but just similarities like "there is mana resource to summon" &c.
2) It's still being voted about if it will have story mode or not &c. for now it is left with possibilities for Single and/or Multi
3) Rules are not implemented yet, but basically there should be +1 Mana every turn, You can summon cards if You have enough mana, the cost is upper left number on the card, You can summon one monster per turn if I remember correctly, one spell per turn (no worries spells works slightly diffrent here) and as many structures as You can per turn (I think) there are no HP Points, win is decided diffrent way (I don't remember how tough xD) That's what I recall for now
4) Aye, Rev 5 will start focusing on implementing battle system fully AND getting rid of questionable materials, they have been used for now to have something to operate on...nobody wants/can make graphics, two people already tried and ended up...being unable to (no details, it's their private stuff after all)

DarkStriker thank You for link I will add it to first post as well with other info

As for that graphic bug I will check it manually, maybe some pixels went off my sight, one point in palette less and it will be threaten as non-transparent

 

[VampireLordAlucard]

I'd like to play around and see what I can do with the graphics. Could you send all of the graphics you are using to me, in a PM?

Also, what is the name of the font used for the splash screen? (FIRE AND ICE CORPORATION PRESENTS..)

- I have a few other ideas for designing the menus, and stuff. Are you interested in changing the design, or do you want it to stay the same?

- Have the rules to the game been finalized, or is it still being designed? If so, I'd be glad to give advice.

 

[iSubaru]

As for graphics stuff I can't answer You at the moment
Also it's not that there is much to play around with them, the main problem is to find someone who can make them from scratch, mostly all graphics without counting intro, menu buttons maybe, card template...and that's it
The rest must be made from scratch ASAP
Font...dunno, for sure non-Windows one

I don't mind changing desing as long as same buttons will still be used, You can throw them around bottom screen as You please, it's the matter of changing two numbers for each one, no big deal

Rules are finalized and written to file somewhere at friend's HDD, they will be implemented part by part to rev 5, starting with that creepy mana stuff and turns

 

[VampireLordAlucard]

Please, just send me what you've got. I am working on cleaning up your graphics for you. I am not the best, but it should be an improvement over what you have now. So far, I'm working with screenshots. Having the originals, especially for the buttons, would make it much easier.

Right now, I just re-designed the intro. Not sure if you'll like it or hate it. Again, I'm not the best with graphics. I just like playing with them sometimes

Do you want the game to have a retro look to it? Like how some of the fonts are old school pixelated looking?
Also, can I change the size of the menu buttons? Or do they need to stay the same size?

 

[iSubaru]

As for sending graphics again "I can't answer that question for now"

I personally do like Retro Style, not sure about other players

Buttons must stay the same size, DS is not powerhouse to be able to use any size given, if I recall correctly buttons have 64x32 pixels now
Also if You are not aware yet:
- PNG Format
- 256colors mode (PALETTE MODE, no freaking 16bit/24bit/32bit modes...)

 

[VampireLordAlucard]

What do you mean by "I can't answer that question for now"? Is somebody else already working on the graphics? If so, I won't bother..

How do you save graphics in palette mode? I've played with DS Game Maker some, so I know a little bit about DS limitations.

 

[LeRodeur]

you don't really have to save graphics in paletted mode, I mean you can use png or bitmap formats,(gif is nice too) which are paletted format so that you wont have any problems at conversion/compilation

 

[VampireLordAlucard]

I made a mock up of slightly cleaned up battle screen. I'm not sure if this game has changing fields like Yu-Gi-Oh, but if so, the background art could change depending on the field. Let me know what you guys think.

ORIGINAL

NEW

 

[EndusIgnismare]

Hi there, I'm Ignismare, one of the participants of this little project. I'm mostly responsible for the mechanics of the game (as in, rules, card effects and stats etc.), while iSubaru (or Kisuke on the CoG forums) is our main (and only) coder. I've seen a few of his responses regarding the game rules and I would like to clarify a few of his mistaktes:

Is Clash of Gods based on an actual TCG, or is it completely original?

Clash of Gods is a completely original card game, created from scratch by our group. iSubaru said it has elemets similar to other card games. And while it's true in a lot of cases, we're striving to make the game as fresh and original as possible. Of course, we'll have a lot of things inspired by other TCG (for example, the game is archetype-based like Yu-gi-oh; we also use resources similar to "mana" in MtG or Duel Masters, but it's calculated a bit differently than in those games, I'll talk about that in a minute), but, at the same time, we'll have a lot of things you've never seen before (for example the system of casting spells, created personally by me).

Rules are not implemented yet

That's not true at all to be honest. We have the first version of the rules already written down. It's not been tested yet (we're still a bit short on actual cards to make any trust-worthy tests just yet), but if you were stubborn enough, you could already play the game with some pieces of paper. We're not releasing any rules as of yet, because, as I said earlier, we need to make at least a few test games to see if they're good enough to release them to the general public.

but basically there should be +1 Mana every turn

The "mana", as iSubaru called it is actually called "resources" in this game. Why such a generic name? Well, if you're a general and you pay recruits to join your army, what are you going to pay with to make a dwarf stay at your side? Mana? Not really, I guess gold fits here, right? But then again, what if you were to recruit a skelleton? He doesn't need gold nor mana, right? I guess some sort of...bones...or something... would fit here a bit better. And that's basicly what "resources" are. They're different "goods" created by the fortress you're commanding. These could be gold, crops, building material, actual mana, anything you actually need to make your army stronger.
And now, the basic "amout" of resources created each turn is not +1 actually, but +2. BUT, contrary to games like MtG, the resources once used are gone forever. You'll get new ones next turn (and you can leave them aside for an entire turn if you need more), but the ones used won't come back. There are also ways to boost the resources you get, but it's not fully tested, so I don't want to talk about it right now.

You can summon one monster per turn if I remember correctly, one spell per turn (no worries spells works slightly diffrent here) and as many structures as You can per turn

And another little dishonesty on iSubaru's side. The amount of "monsters" (called "units" in our game) you can summon each turn is almost unlimited, but you can have up to 6 units at once (more of the DS'es limitation to be honest, we can't get more cards on the same screen at once, because they would be really, REALLY small). You can have one active spell at a time, but some of them will be only a short "blink", so as soon as they're done, you can cast another one (contrary to some spells, which will take several turns to resolve), so "technically" you can say you can cast more than one spell a turn. The structures are also unlimited, but you can have up to 4 at the same time.

- I have a few other ideas for designing the menus, and stuff. Are you interested in changing the design, or do you want it to stay the same?

IMO, we need that a lot. CoG is more of a fantasy-based game, so the things we use for now are mostly placeholders for real graphics, music etc.

- Have the rules to the game been finalized, or is it still being designed? If so, I'd be glad to give advice.

The rules have been written down, but I wouldn't call them finalized. They'll probably change a bit after we do some tests and actually play the game for the first few times. But only time will tell what stays and what goes. For now, we don't really need that much advice, but will certainly need help when the open tests will start, especially from people who played some card games before.
I think that's all for now. If you need more info, head to our forum at: http://clash-of-gods.netau.net/forums/
EDIT: VampireLord, I replied to your post on the forums. This looks really nice. Would love to see it in the full version.

 

[iSubaru]

you don't really have to save graphics in paletted mode, I mean you can use png or bitmap formats,(gif is nice too) which are paletted format so that you wont have any problems at conversion/compilation

In fact You don't have to do anything, I will convert it by myself
HOWEVER I AM NOT responsible for end results...

VampireLordAlucard - pretty nice change, I like it, tough not sure about colors, I will check it later

We have the first version of the rules already written down.

Yes but not compiled into this rev, that's what I had on mind

The "mana", as iSubaru called it is actually called "resources" in this game.

Ah yes, sorry about that, I'm too much into all mage-and-magic stuff and I can see "mana" everywhere instead of resources or something xD

And now, the basic "amout" of resources created each turn is not +1 actually, but +2.

M
My mistake...again...

And another little dishonesty on iSubaru's side.

To sum it up, now You know why I wanted YOU to register HERE...

 

[VampireLordAlucard]

Sounds like you already have a lot of the card game design decided, sounds pretty interesting. Managing the resources reminds me a little of games like Starcraft.

When deciding the rules, I suggest keeping it simple, and addictive. Think of the Pokemon games, the combat is very simple, yet deep. I wouldn't design it as if it were a real life card game. I see you are already keeping screen space in mind, which is good.

I made another post on your forums. Looking forward to hearing from you, and I'll keep working on cleaning up some stuff.

 

[iSubaru]

I want especially find some time to restart working on it, I have released rev 4 and have mental break after this again...must-find-inspiration >_<

Also mentioned on CoG forums but once again
Do not change the card size, nobody would want to completely redo 20-100 cards anew...also it helps to give a lot of space for actual card image, 136x128 pixels is what I could push this world into...and that's pretty much enough...

 

[VampireLordAlucard]

The quality of the existing cards is pretty poor, the names are almost completely unreadable. If I redesigned the UI, I could easily remake, or even resize all of the existing cards.

I didn't shrink the cards to make room for the description, but to add a bar at the top with the card name. The handheld Yu-Gi-Oh games do the same thing.

 

[iSubaru]

OK Maybe this time we will understand each other
NO REISIZE
Changing text managment OK
NO RESIZE
New backgrounds OK
NO RESIZE

I hope I made myself clear this time

EDIT #1
Also...don't You think that using background from FF I is no less "sin" than me using grass from FF IV?

 

[EndusIgnismare]

Sounds like you already have a lot of the card game design decided, sounds pretty interesting. Managing the resources reminds me a little of games like Starcraft.

I'm not that much of a Starcraft player, but it might be somewhere around these lines.

When deciding the rules, I suggest keeping it simple, and addictive. Think of the Pokemon games, the combat is very simple, yet deep. I wouldn't design it as if it were a real life card game. I see you are already keeping screen space in mind, which is good.

Actually, I think we made it a little bit more complicated than an average card game in some areas (yeah, I think I might have gotten carried away a bit too much ). But, again, if the game is not as fun to play, we may trim some of the more nasty stuff away. Everything is very interchangable, so we can give the players the best experience we can .

I made another post on your forums. Looking forward to hearing from you, and I'll keep working on cleaning up some stuff.

I'll check it out in a second.

Also...don't You think that using background from FF I is no less "sin" than me using grass from FF IV?

Well, we DO try to get rid of copy-written material so...that's pretty bad.

 

[iSubaru]

Well, we DO try to get rid of copy-written material so...that's pretty bad.

As addition, remake/recolour still counts as copyright AND additionally counts as breaking some point of law about changing software, it's no different from cracking the game, altering the sound in a game, doing ripped from videos version... same thing

 

[iSubaru]

Another 19 cards joined (graphics) project, also I have fixed that stupid bug that didn't allowed to summon first-left card from hand
We have finally played FIRST match ever with Ignismare (I won but that matters less now), we have been able to get clear with few things
- 2 mana per turn automatically
- 1 mana per turn extra if You discard one card from hand to graveyard
- unified resources, no two or more diffrent ones, ONE UNIFIED
- Card #006 needs correction
- Card #045 (?) needs correction (it's caster without proper stat and element)
- Card...can't recall which one, probably will get one of two effects cut off

That's all for now

Now for the match xD
Ignismare tested Elf-based deck
I have tested Fox-based deck (I wonder WHY Foxes HMMM?!)
I have won after long and difficult fight with one last card in second deck (omg so close)
We have got to conclusion that aside of things above, none of the cards will be nerfed for now

That's all I guess...

 

[iSubaru]

Milestones for rev 5 has been set and written down to changelog more or less and on proper forum section, Ignismare made another few cards which will be implemented into engine as soon as possible
Also good news, we will seriously start replacing questionable content with free-to-use one, not sure if every single one will be replaced in rev 5 but hopefully no less than most of them
Not sure about decks yet...making own deck just asks for save possibility, that possibility means use of FAT and that crosses emulator users...in other hand if we would want to keep one more revision emulator-friendly we would have to make few pre-made decks and make player choose from them, that would not require FAT yet...

 

[iSubaru]

As for today, 40 cards in total are made in old-style, 10 cards has prepared graphics, many more to come
Why I said old-style? VampireLordAlucard has made new better style of the cards and that style will be used as official one for now
Intro music has been changed to less bass-pown and more Commodore64 style...for now
I have prepared everything to make music from scratch and set up my mind how it will "look like"
of course aside from that, Changelog has been updated few times since my last post
Battle system is going pretty good, few bugs has been fixed finally and it's time to implement next part of grand plan
One of last things will be implementing effects of cards since I developed good method of managing them not so long ago however it will take some time to code it anyway

 

[iSubaru]

Many changes done since last post, to put it short:
- all card slots are filled with graphics (temporary, void or proper ones, depends which card)
- there is second table finally, it's being empty for now but progressing
- recoding castle card to be choosen seperately (better handling)
- 80 cards created (who, cost, stats &c. they are not implemented yet however, will do soon)
- some cards got graphics update
- overall graphics update here-and-there
- starting to make CPU player (as dumb as galactic-size but better than nothing)
- bla-bla-bla